Currently there are several types of collapsible cooking apparatus, however there is no single cooking apparatus that allows food preparation for a group of people, such as a family, at one time and is portable for use in outdoor recreation. More and more state and federal laws and regulations are restricting or banning the use of bonfires and open-air barbecues. What is needed is a cooking apparatus that allows for barbecue style cooking but in a contained and clean-cook fashion for safety and anti-pollutant reasons. There exists a need for a cooking apparatus that not only has the capacity to cook for a large group of individuals, such as a family, at one time, but that has the means of moderating and adjusting the heat to cook different types of food.
In addition, most outdoor cooking apparatus take up a comparatively large volume of space and are too heavy for easy use in remote locations that are not readily accessible to a vehicle that can transport the cooking apparatus to its point of intended use. Ideally this apparatus needs to be easily portable, light in construction and able to collapse into a container that will fit in a standard backpack. Ideally this cooking apparatus should be easy to assemble, and tear down to return it to its original state for storage in its container ready for reuse and the cooking apparatus should be easy to dispose of any ash and food residue and easy to clean as well as be resistant to staining.
The requirements of the backpacker are very demanding since the backpacker needs a collapsible cooking apparatus that has the smallest possible volume as well. In addition, since a backpacker will have few if any tools the collapsible cooker must be easily assembled for use without any tools the backpacker will also, in many instances, be required to carry his or her fuel for the cooker and hence the collapsible cooker must be extremely efficient in its use of fuel since the fuel source may be fixed to a small amount without the ability for it to be replenished. Fire is also a possibility in many backpacking situations and hence it is important the a collapsible cooker for backpacking situations properly contact ignited fuel or fuel that could be ignited so that it does not pose a possible fuel hazard.
It is also important that a collapsible cooker be readily cleaned. This is particularly true in various outdoor situations where the access to cleaning facilities is limited such as in the case of backpacking or in remote camping situations.
Existing collapsible cookers are also difficult to readily assemble. This is particularly true when assembly is required under difficult conditions such as in low light conditions that are likely to be encountered when backpacking or camping.
The new collapsible cooking apparatus of this invention overcomes these problems and provide a collapsible cooking apparatus that is easy to use and safe to use to cook for varying numbers of people with different types of possible cooking techniques. The new collapsible cooking apparatus is light in weight, is very compact and yet it is easy to assemble without the need for any tools. The new collapsible cooking apparatus has portions that are used for more than one purpose.